BOXING

BOXING; Mosley Can Only Muster No Contest

By MICHAEL KATZ

Published: February 9, 2003

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 8—
Shane Mosley just can't win. He seemed well on the way to his first victory since July 2001 tonight and then the other guy appeared to quit. And he still couldn't win.

Mosley, in his first fight as a junior middleweight, banged heads several times with Raul Marquez, a former 154-pound champion, who sustained deep cuts over both eyes. Referee Kenny Bayless, on the advice of the ringside physician Dr. William Berliner, halted the scheduled 12-round bout at 2 minutes 41 seconds of the third round.

Because the bout did not last four rounds, it goes into the record books as a no contest even though Mosley won the first two rounds on all three official cards, and was winning the third.

The crowd of about 4,000 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center booed Marquez after he turned from Mosley and spit out his mouthpiece.

''He quit,'' said Jack Mosley, who trains his son. ''He quit.''

''It was a soft way kind of quitting,'' said Shane Mosley, who lost both of his fights last year, and his welterweight title, to Vernon Forrest. ''He knew he was on his way out in a few rounds. He was cut up pretty bad, but I've seen him cut worse, bleeding down his face, and go on.''

Kery Davis, the HBO vice president, who said he would still like to see Mosley face Oscar De La Hoya on Sept. 13, said there was ''not much we can tell'' about Mosley's ability to handle 154-pounders. He said David Tua and Lamon Brewster, a pair of ranked heavyweights, even thought Marquez won the second round.

''I feel this fight showed I have the power to hurt a junior middleweight,'' said Mosley, who is still 38-2. ''And I still have my speed.''

And he went right out to show Marquez (34-2) how strong he was at a well-muscled 154 pounds by spinning the former champion in the opening seconds. He began landing hard shots to Marquez's body.

''I was breaking him down,'' he said.

When Marquez's right eye was cut midway through the third round, Mosley stepped up the pressure and landed some more body shots. The southpaw Marquez, from Houston, complained that Mosley was butting intentionally, but after watching television replays he realized that it was the usual southpaw-orthodox match-ups that were creating the problem and that the clashing was accidental.

The result did not change anyone's hand in the backroom poker game that Mosley is playing against Bob Arum, De La Hoya's promoter. Mosley has rejected a $4.25 million offer to fight De La Hoya, whom he beat in 2000. De la Hoya will be paid at least $12 million and Mosley said that there was still another $4 million to $5 million ''in the pot'' and that it was not fair that the promoter should earn more than a fighter.

Davis said neither Arum nor Mosley drew any aces tonight, but Davis said he still hoped the rematch occurred.

''Oscar has said he wants the fight,'' Davis said, ''and that's the fight Shane has wanted for years. I feel Shane deserves the opportunity.''

The first half of the HBO double-header featured two of the better competitors in the division Mosley left behind. Antonio Margarito of Tijuana, Mexico, the World Boxing Organization's 147-pound champion, knocked out Andrew Lewis of Brooklyn with solid blows. Lewis, the former World Boxing Association champion, had been outboxing Margarito (28-3 with 19 knockouts) until a right uppercut hurt him late in the second round.

Lewis (22-2-1) was backed up to the ropes and took a ferocious overhand right to the head, and Margarito proceeded to land six more punches before Referee Joe Cortez finally stopped it at 2:31 of the second.

Photo: Raul Marquez sustained deep cuts over both eyes, rendering his bout with Shane Mosley a no contest. (Associated Press)